How to Develop Your Career Skills After You Get a Degree

To enjoy a flourishing career, you need the necessary skill-set that the modern workplace demands. A university degree simply helps you get one foot into the job but to excel and enjoy career growth, you need to develop a range of hard and soft skills. There are several ways to improve yourself, which include both online and offline channels. Below are 4 ways to acquire the skills that set you on the path of development and career advancement.

Online Courses

Online training offers you a wide range of courses to choose from. Jobberman Learning in Nigeria is a prime example on an online platform for training/courses, which has helped thousands of candidates like you acquire both hard and soft skills. Hard skills are specific, teachable abilities that can be defined and measured, such as typing, writing, maths, reading and the ability to use software programs like Adobe Photoshop, Trello and Microsoft Office. By contrast, soft skills are less tangible and harder to quantify, such as etiquette, getting along with others, listening, your ability to communicate effectively and engaging in small talk. Other soft skills include flexibility, multi-tasking, leadership, patience and persuasion.

Free In-House Training

Quite a number of employers in Nigeria offer their employee formal staff training. This training covers both hard and soft skills; from effective public speaking skill training to Masterclasses in Business Writing. This explains why some employers give their employees access to free online learning platforms. As an employee, you would usually be given a wide variety of courses to choose from.

Niche Certifications

Skills that are tied to certain fields and specialisations often have employers looking out for specific certifications. For instance, as an accountant in Nigeria, employers and recruiters would expect you to have a certification from ICAN (Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria).

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If your career is in legal practice in Nigeria, employers would hold you in a higher level of esteem if you are a SAN (Senior Advocate of Nigeria). It is considered the peak of legal practice in Nigeria.

If you aspire to enjoy a thriving career in the management space, you could strengthen your skill-set with a NIM (Nigerian Institute of Management) certification. The certification gives you access to a wide array of personal and corporate benefits from the NIM.

Volunteering

Getting involved in projects and tasks around you is one of the recommended ways to acquire experience and build your skillset at the same time. This gets easier if you are already working; if the organisation needs volunteers to work on a test, you can volunteer to work on this along with others. This will prove to be an interesting learning curve for you. As you work on the project, task or test, you are bound to pick up skills that will strengthen your skill-set.

If, for instance, your company is running a test on engaging its audience using new strategies, don’t hesitate to volunteer.

Mentorship

Getting yourself a mentor is one of the best things that can happen to you in the course of trying to establish a firm footing for your career. A mentor is someone with experience and a repertoire of skills that you can glean from.

Find someone who can guide you as well as offer you an exemplary brand of leadership. The high-skill level your mentor possesses will be something you can ride on to develop your career and skill-set. You should consider having a mentor you work with, preferably a manager or senior colleague at work. This affords you an opportunity to spend more time with your mentor especially if this is someone who is really good at what he/she does.

Final Thoughts

You should strive towards deep learning as you work on developing skills that will have a positive impact on your career. One of the things you need to decide early on is which skills you really want to develop. Find out which skills align with your career goals and make the necessary moves to acquire them.

I believe this post is for young job seekers and as such I feel it is important to point out that:
1. Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) is not a certification. It is an award earned after a minimum of 10 years of practice in the Legal Profession.
2. Once you attain such a position, you are NOT a job seeker rather you are an employer of other lawyers and potential job seekers. For example, Chief Afe Babalola SAN is not a job seeker but an employer of labour.
Thank you.

Hi Faith, how about you take professional certifications like ICRM (it is based on Customer Relationship Management). it can really increase your chance. You can consider any field of career and research on the certifications they have. Cheers!